Smartphone Screen Size Trend

Jul 28th, 2017

Shifts in Screen Size Trend

Anyone who has purchased a mobile phone in the last decade has marveled at the reversal in trends when it comes to size. Long gone are the days when Nokia dominated the feature phone market and smaller meant better. Anyone remember the Nokia 8210? Of course, that was before mobile web browsing was a feasible or enjoyable experience. Today, manufacturers are slowly but surely increasing smartphone sizes to accommodate bigger, high resolution screens.

Smartphone Screen Sizes Continue to Grow

MOVR research data shows that larger screen sizes smartphones have dominated the market. The 5.5 to 6” diagonal screen size is the most popular segment, with 43.3% in 2017 Q2. The growth in the 5.5 to 6” market has been dramatic, from only 7.5% in 2014 to 43.3% today. This is a 19% CAGR. In fact, over 59% of smartphone traffic comes from phones larger than 5”. Major manufacturers like Apple and Samsung have driven this trend. The iPhone 6 Plus, 6S Plus, and 7 Plus all rank in the top 20 worldwide as of 2017 Q2.

Conversely, the steepest decline comes in the 4 to 4.5” segment, dropping from 33.1% to only 9.9%.